User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
audiophi
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: October 9, 2005

Bottom Line:

For a long time I deliberated over getting an SACD or DVD-Audio player, then finally realized that if I simply bought a better CD player, my entire CD collection would sound better, and I wouldn't be limited to the fairly small number of SACD/DVD-A disks. I investigated Naim, Arcam and Ayre CD players, which were good but not outstanding. The new Cary is quite good, and the Gamut was tempting, but I hit gold with the Wadia. Natural sound with no electronic edge whatsoever. Totally non-fatiguing. I listen to classical and jazz with acoustic instruments, and Wadia makes them sound right. No scratchiness to massed violins, no hardness on piano, no harshness on trumpt or sax. I listen to a lot of vocalists, the the player simply caresses the human voice. It's a wonderful machine.

Note that the remote control (and the instruction manual's depiction of the remote control) has nonworking buttons for features that don't exist on the 302. For instance, there are buttons for balance control, but they don't do anything. I called the company, and a sales guy gave me a lame excuse about how they're just planning for possible future features. Disappointing, but not a reason to avoid buying. By the way, when I made other phone calls to the company just looking for more information, the people were very helpful.

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